The title basically means that i didnt find it quite the party town i had heard it was... it is good and no doubt better in the high season but it was still a bit disappointing though i was only there one day and night so there is a good chance i may have missed some of the best spots...

Nha Trang is pretty big and right on the coast with a wide beautiful beach and loads of high rise hotels on the seascape looking similar to a Spanish coastline hotel resort. I managed to haggle my usual $7 room which was nice, clean and quiet too though, in keeping with the usual fact that there is always one thing wrong with a room, i couldnt watch TV because whenever i turned it on it was set to full volume and neither the TV or remote would reduce it but i wasn't going to be watching TV anyway so it really didnt matter..

I decided i had to go out here as it may be my only chance and found a cool little bar run and owned by a group of Vietnam friends and it really was a friendly, sociable place, like a cool small bar like Zephyr but most importantly it had the Premier league final match day on a big screen and even better was that they had 2 screens, one with the united game and one with the city game but naturally the city game took precedence and what a game it was! So glad i managed to watch that live - like you i am guessing, i have never seen an end to the season like that and it at least matches the Liverpool v Arsenel 80's league decider when Michael Thomas scored that late late goal.... i got talking to a guy from Norway in there whilst watching the game and he was travelling too but liked Nha Trang and stayed there for the last three weeks and he knew a lot of the people there and so i chatted to some of them too but unfortunately for them all there was a pool table in the bar and a good one too and so as soon as footy finished i had a game and maybe 10 or 12 games later i was still on there - UNBEATEN! and with 2 seven balls under my belt (for some reason that just doesn't sound right?!) and as you know, after a few beers i was feelin pretty smug but with a mixed reaction from my opponents; the West v East appreciation of pool.... on the West side a look of disgust but on the East side a look of amazement!!

Whenever you play pool against any Asian, whether Thai, Viet or Cambodian the first rule is you cannot let them win if they are no good! They 'lose face' and would prefer a 7 balling to being 'let off'. They also love it when you play well and, like when there's a card game on, they flock round to watch if you play well, they'll clap, gasp, say 'wow' !! They just appreciate anyone who is good at a game or skill.... whether it be pool or this strange but amazing game they have all over Asia which is hard to describe but its where anyone from 2 people are in a rough circle or facing each other and they pass this 'device' back and forth usually by means of kicking it... its like a heavier plastic shuttlecock but as a coil shaped cyclinder with a spring in one end and at the other a feathered flight. The spring end is heavier so this is the end you pass with as gravity means it's always face down but the players dont just kick with the front of their foot, they do side kicks, back kicks from behind without even watching the shuttlecock and also bicycle kicks! It should be a sport at the olympics, it takes true skill. I did get a video of this back in battambang in Cambodia but may not have bee able to upload it so i will try again so you can see what i mean....

Anyway, back to the night out.... after the game and their pool thrashing they surprisingly invited me along to the best club here called the Sailing Club and it was good, right on the beach, a really cool place with great music and these cocktails served in plastic jars too... but then came the strange part..! After that everyone still wanted to stay out, there were about 8 of us left and they asked if i wanted to come to karaoke...!!!! and i said yes....!! Now i think i mentioned already in Cambodia that Karaoke is HUGE, as big as Buddha!! And in Vietnam its the same, and when we got there it's not like a karaoke bar in England with other people there, though you do get those too, but this was a private booth place, like the place they had in Huddersfield at Buddha Bar, so you get a large booth about 10 times the size of the Buddha bar one, a huge screen, 2 mics, a huge songs book and you just order drinks or food whenever you want.... well i sang about 5 times i think but the last time came when i decided i was now some kind of singing sensation and actually sung on my own and chose Band on the Run...! can you imagine, i heard myself and how bad i sounded but strangely no one seemed to even know the song - did i murder it that much?! Anyway, we all went for some food after and as the sky started to say hello the sun i headed back to the hotel still singing to myself....'the jailer man, and sailor sam, were searching everyone... for the...'

Comments

Delly
on Jun 1, 2012 at 08:50AM

Awww lee, so glad you got to watch the premiership final and both man u and city games... we had it on split screen and commentary on city game, most exciting and exhilerating game ive EVER seen!!!!! :)

Cant believe you hogged karaoke, or even participated haha! You'd have never done that back home :)

xx del xx

Carrie
on Nov 21, 2012 at 10:42AM

Wherever you go in the world, there's always Footy!

No excuses now when you get back to strut your stuff on the Karaoke - give Delly a bit of competition.